Posts Tagged ‘The Showdown Effect’

There was a time when I spent most of my day posting about bundles, to the extent that I didn’t actually play any new games at all. I’d just list the contents of whatever bundle landed in my inbox, embed a video and check that the ‘pay what you want’ offer actually let people submit less than a dollar. Then I’d hit the publish button and move onto the next big thing. Which would be another bundle. I thought all of that was in my past but the Super BR Jam has caught my eye, with a decent set of commercial titles for anyone paying more than $5 and the results of the jam (now finished) available whatever the price paid. Dungeonland, Magicka, The Showdown Effect and Knights of Pen and Paper all have Paradox in common, and plenty of people probably own them already, but the standout is Qasir al-Wasat, which I wish I’d pointed more eyes toward when I played the demo.

Have you ever wanted to dive out of a window to avoid an explosion, while throwing a sword at a ninja? I tried it once but landed badly and ended up with a nasty crick in my neck. It’s the kind of antic that might look amazing when performed by a sinewy star of the silver screen, but my body just isn’t made for that kind of showboating. Even my beard and the confetti in my hair weren’t cushion enough to break the fall. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy playing an action movie archetype in Arrowhead’s multiplayer murder ‘em up, The Showdown Effect. My own feeble frame remains safe, even as my avatar slices, dices and explodes. If you’ve steered clear but have an interest, now is the time to try. Free this weekend and currently discounted to £1.99.

Arnold Schwarzenegger parody: “Wow, this sure is great! I can slice and shoot people, and it’s all so fast-pace– [gets sliced and shot to pieces, emits comical death yodel].”

[More explosions, no one looks at them]

Elderly monk man: “Hah, that was too easy. Which is basically what this game becomes after you figure out the rhythm and realize there are only a few weapons, items, and character abilities. There’s just not much long-term value. Er, I mean, hiyah! Tongue-in-cheek reference to a well-known action film!”

[Further explosions with no apparent cause]

Explosions: “Hey, I know: you guys should go to the Wild West for some reason. Westerns were kind of action movies, right? They had guns and stuff. Also, fantastic soundtracks. Er, I mean, ka-boom.”

Congratulations! You made Magicka and have finished creating odd DLC content for the friendly fire(ball) simulation. What do you do next?

1) Go hiking in the Pyrenees.
2) Why not craft some sort of single player Magicka RPG?
3) Form a band sort of like Daft Punk but with all the sci-fi robot vibes replaced by wizard’s robes and jokes about willies.
4) Create a fast-paced multiplayer homage to eighties action movies, of course.

Arrowhead and Paradox are dabbling in the absurd once again with their “2.5D” shooter, The Showdown Effect, which is destined to be released quite soon. The latest trailer shows numerous hi-jinks. Paradox claims that the trailer’s “Intricate Bullet Ballet Forever Answers Games-as-Art Debate”.

The Showdown Effect is a bombastic game, packed with more eighties action movie clichés and stereotypes than Schwarzenegger’s CV, or that one friend’s DVD collection that you’re fairly sure is entirely an edifice of ironic appreciation. I spoke to Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt at the Paradox Convention and we talked about Warhammer, dice and situational comedy. And, hey, why not the game as well?

The Showdown Effect stood out at the Paradox Convention. Among the fine Port*, maps and history, here was a game that threatened to introduce itself like a shot of Tabasco sauce to the back of the throat. GUNS! ONE LINERS! SWORDS! BLOOD! ACTION MOVIES! THE EIGHTIES! I was braced for impact but as the sauce settled, I paused to swirl it around my mouth, nodded appreciatively and then turned a man’s head into a blood pudding by liberally applying a fire extinguisher to his face. There are explosions and gibs aplenty, but between the bullets and blades, there’s a great deal of precision.

Paradox’s The Showdown Effect now has its own website. Why it hasn’t had its own website since its announcement in March last year is perhaps a pertinent question. But with the side-scrolling cop movie-spoofing/celebrating multiplayer due out on the 5th March, it’s about time it did. And as you might imagine on such an occasion, there’s a new trailer too.

I do so love games that are unabashedly cheeky. I know, I know: that’s pretty much like scaling my way to the highest mountain tops and proclaiming my love for breathing and blinking to the calloused undersides of god’s feet, but apparently, some people only play games through gritted teeth and furrowed brows. I think those people are silly, though, and I won’t be inviting them to my games of Magicka developer Arrowhead’s The Showdown Effect because a) they’d hate it and b) I’m very petty. Boasting grin-inducing gems like “Fight to the death, or die trying,” the sidescrolling multiplayer mash-‘em-up lampoons just about everything – including itself. Watch its creators have a laugh at their own characters after the break.

The last we heard of The Showdown Effect, the new side-scrolling and cartoony shootybangbang game from the makers of the reliably silly Magicka, was back in April. Now, it’s spooling up its beta-testing mini-gun, and hopes to lure in passers-by by revelling shamelessly in as many action movie cliches as it can conjure up. CONJURE LIKE IN MAGICKA.Read the rest of this entry »

Not enough things are inspired by 1980s action movies. And I write that knowing a quite a lot of things actually inspired by that apex of stupidity, and I should probably shut up, but I only have one day as a regular updater left on RPS and I’m demob happy. So I’m demanding more things that explode, more quips about death, and rocket launchers for everyone. Luckily I have a game directly inspired by all those things in my sights: The Showdown Effect. Magicka developers Arrowhead Games have taken everything I like in the world and dragged the camera out and to the side, so it’s viewed from a side on perspective. This revolutionary positioning of the camera makes everything easier to see. Proof of this can be found in the half-hour demonstration that Paradox hosted and have now uploaded to the internet. It’s probably too long to just sit and stare at, so the inclusion of the developer commentary and the Q&A make are welcome.Read the rest of this entry »

Run for higher ground, for the deluge has begun. As you may be aware, the GDC is in full swing now, which means announcements of a ludic nature are flooding my inbox and I only need to adjust the intricate series of valves that is my protective system ever so slightly to let them slip through, one at a time. Or maybe three at a time, as Paradox have announced a trio of games.

The first two are Dungeonland, in which three players control heroes in a twisted theme park while a fourth plays the Dungeon Master attempting to kill them, and RED Frontier, a multiplayer RTS. Let’s start with the new game from Arrowhead, creators of friend-murdering simulation Magicka. Going by the name The Showdown Effect It’s a side-on multiplayer action game. Here’s how it looks.